His Litany of Sins
by Cyprith
Summary: One hundred drabbles. Some sad, some sweet, all Vladislaus and Gabriel. VHD slash.
1. 006 First Meeting

Title: First Meeting

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: G

Words: 100

* * *

Where Gabriel forgets, Vladislaus remembers. He'd been young, trapped in the awkwardness between child and man, thundering off for the woods on his father's horse, lusting for the hunt.

The horse had stopped dead at the sight of him— bleeding and broken in the road— and Vladislaus was thrown into the bushes in an undignified heap of too-long limbs.

His brothers were too superstitious to near the man lying in the road, two gashes torn deep into his back. But Vladislaus was entranced. He rode home, a fallen angel cradled in his arms.

The irony was not lost on him.


	2. 007 Hardest Truth

Title: Hardest Truth

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: G

Words: 100

* * *

Even after all these years, it never changed. Gabriel has always, first and foremost, belonged to the church. Vladislaus hates it— loathes and despises it with every fiber of his being.

There was a time he'd have done anything, _anything_ to have Gabriel turn to him for comfort, before the idle trivialities of his religion.

In the end, those idle trivialities killed him. And that's the hardest truth to bear. Because no matter how well he loves Gabriel— no matter that once he would have given his soul for him, Gabriel never loved him so well as he loved God.


	3. 020 Laughter

Title: Laughter

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

There are a hundred different things Vladislaus bests him at, but not one that bothers him so much as his laughter.

Vladislaus laughs and it lights the room in an instant— a bright, beautiful, infectious thing. Gabriel laughs and it's like boulders toppling off a mountainside onto a sick goat.

So he lurks at the very fringes of the room, watching Vladislaus move through the crowd. And he's jealous. Because he knows this beautiful creature will never be his.

But always, _always,_ Vladislaus draws him away from the shadows and into his arms. Like a moth to the flame. Always.


	4. 060 Could Have

Title: Could Have

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

Spies wander throughout Rome. Gabriel knew and expected that. So it's really no surprise he should return to find Vladislaus pale and drawn, sick with worry, paranoid in knowing an assassin's been sent to kill him.

Gabriel could have trusted him. Could have held him. Could have soothed away his worries with a whispered word and a soft kiss. Could have turned away from the church and found another way to serve his god. Could have stopped to wonder why a loving god would demand such bloodbaths.

He could have… But then, he could have done a lot of things.


	5. 061 Would Have

Title: Would Have

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

Everyone has secrets. But theirs were different— transparent and poisonous, strange eyeless creatures never meant to see the day.

He would have turned away were the cardinal not so adamant. Would have left had what was said not fit so perfectly in the gaps of things his lover left him.

They spewed a litany of sins, but really it was the man who pulled him into a dark corner to admit he'd fallen prey to Vladislaus'… tastes, when by all rights the man should have been asleep in Gabriel's bed...

Hell hath no fury.

Gabriel would have. But he couldn't.


	6. 062 Should Have

Title: Should Have

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

He should have known there was something off about the man. His scent, his dress, his _looks_ were too cheap. Vladislaus demanded more of his lovers— of _him_ even—than that.

He should have known. Should have stopped to listen. Should have _asked_, for god's sake instead of rushing in headfirst. Should have loved a little more, trusted a little more…

But it's too late now, and Gabriel curls in the bed they once shared, Vladislaus' cologne weaving empty promises around him. He's clenched his hand so tight around his lover's ring that his palm begins to bleed.

It'll scar.


	7. 039 Trust

Title: Trust

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: G

Words: 100

* * *

How strange that Vladislaus should trust him with his life when Gabriel can barely trust himself. Constantly, he warns him— warns him that he is a servant of God and that lately Vladislaus has not been quite so loyal as the church would like. 

But as always, Vladislaus only laughs.

"There is a difference between God and the church, you know," he says. "I see no reason I may not speak to God myself. Why must I pay money to do so?"

And Gabriel will only sigh, as always, and tuck his head into the hollow of his lover's throat.


	8. 083 Breakup

Title: Break-up

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

"Why, Gabriel?" Betrayal in his eyes, he's soaking through the new carpet.

"Why? _Why?_ After what you've done, you have the gall to ask why?" Raw fury, a stained dagger.

Vladislaus falls to his knees, coughing up blood.

"I love you, you idiot. What could I possibly have done?"

"You've sold your soul," a choked sob. "You strayed."

"You've been lied to, Gabriel."

"I was sent by the church," he growls and there's no weakness left now.

Vladislaus laughs and it's a wet, miserable sound. Nothing like the silk and silver Gabriel so loves.

"Damn you all to hell then."


	9. 053 Haunted

Title: Haunted

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

To be honest, he never expected Gabriel to return. But this… this was not the man he known, or the boy he'd fallen in love with. This was someone older, four hundred years wiser and haunted by a thousand different ghosts. Gabriel's life had faded from him.

Vladislaus could see the righteous anger in his eyes. Gabriel remembered nothing.

It was freeing to _hate_ someone that looked so like his lover. And while this was not his angel, he couldn't harm him. Vladislaus had always loved too dearly— a sin he knew would bring about his death a second time.


	10. 052 Kink

Title: Kink

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG-13

Words: 100

* * *

It had been Vladislaus' idea and no matter how much he had loathed and despised it, Gabriel had to admit it had worked. Though it _was_ disturbing to think that if he shaved and slipped into a padded corset, he could pass as a woman. (A Transylvanian woman, but a woman none the less.) And now, with the rebel's maps and battle plans sitting safe inside the study, he found himself pinned against the wall, missing everything but that damned corset, Vladislaus' breath hot in his ear.

Apparently, it only took a bit of lace to break the man's resolve.


	11. 010 Home

Title: Home

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG-13

Words: 100

* * *

Home. Gabriel hasn't felt at home in more than a hundred years. Not surprising, really, as he can't remember what exactly home _is_. There are memories, albeit fragmented ones— the most he has now. 

He remembers a battlefront and whispered words of comfort. He remembers stifling laughter as he hid from a priest, a perfect imp of a boy crouching at his side. He remembers being held, being needed, being loved. He remembers being pressed into cold, stone walls, a silver voice whispering, _"Tonight, Gabriel, I take my revenge. Bring the oil, would you?"_

Home… He has no home now.


	12. 002 Beauty

Title: Beauty

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG-13

Words: 100

* * *

To him, Gabriel is the epitome of beauty— the strong, stubbled jaw, the sun-kissed skin, the freckles he gets every summer. He adores it in a way his father would call weakness. But he adores it so he cannot bring himself to care.

To him, Vladislaus is the epitome of beauty— his heart-shaped jaw, his porcelain skin, the way his blue eyes flash when he angers… the little noises he makes when they make love, the way they fit so perfectly together. He craves it in a way the church considers a sin. He craves it, and it torments him.


	13. 063 Hunger

Title: Hunger

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG-13

Words: 100

* * *

He is starving (resurrection tends to do that) and so, not quite as careful as he should be. But he is starving, and so he cannot quite bring himself to care as he swoops into the inn, intent on slaking his thirst to completion this once.

He did not expect to find Gabriel. But had he, finding him sitting up in bed with a silver crossbow in hand was really no surprise.

He sighs, sweeps the hair from his eyes and glares at the fallen angel.

"Why is it I always seem to find you when I least want you?"


	14. 091 Failure

Title: Failure

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG-13

Words: 100

* * *

He feels the blade, feels his blood dripping onto the floor, but he's miles away, focusing on that look in Gabriel's eyes. He doesn't know what's happened— not entirely. Something beyond his control has gone horribly wrong.

The assassin, he realizes. Gabriel is his assassin.

He's failed. It is his first and last coherent thought. He's failed at something. Life, perhaps. Or maybe it's his father that he's failed… Or Gabriel.

He means to apologize, means to put things right, but the words don't come. Instead, he laughs— mad, desperate.

"Damn you all to hell then."

And he means it.


	15. 024 Tears

Title: Tears

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG-13

Words: 100

* * *

Dracula never wept. He'd had it beaten out of him when he was too young to properly remember.

Gabriel looks at him for what _should_ have been the first time, and strangely, he knows this. But he shakes it off— he has a job to do after all— and starts shooting.

It is only later, when he remembers ("We have such history together, you and I,") that things fall into place. Lost memories flicker and fade.

It is a relief when he finds Dracula has risen and he can leave for Transylvania, not to fight, but to remember… to love.


	16. 013 Kisses

Title: Kisses

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

A kiss can tell as much about as man as his heartbeat. Dracula smiles as he paces, upside down on the ceiling of his prison, remembering the feel of Gabriel's lips against his.

He was always so passionate. In his youth, at least. Vladislaus does not know this new man he's become. But his kisses were fire, raw adrenalin, war, lust. They were sweet, distant, tender, chaste. They contradicted each other from one moment to the next— always changing, always entirely different.

A kiss can tell a lot about a man… In hindsight, he really should have expected Gabriel's change.


	17. 044 Death

Title: Death

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

He misses Gabriel. Misses the death of the boy he fell in love with. Misses him even more when he sees the strange, cold creature he's become. Celestial irony, perhaps that Gabriel— loving, passionate Gabriel— should become cold when once he had burned so bright.

He tries though— tries to force him to remember, to see beyond the lies the church has fed him. Son of the devil, perhaps, but his desires are simple.

He wants to exist, to be a father… to be a lover.

Gabriel wants nothing.

Or perhaps it is only that his desires are simpler still.


	18. 043 Opportunity

Title: Opportunity

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

Always a tactician, there was no way in _hell_ Dracula could let such an opportunity go. To find Gabriel sleeping like the dead in a tiny tavern, far off the road and at the very edge of town was inconceivable.

Of course, he exploited it, breathing just a hint of a spell into his mouth as he slept— a simple trick that kept his victims from waking. And with that, he carried him home, away from the inn and his friar, far from the doctrines of the church.

Gabriel _would_ remember.

It was too perfect an opportunity to pass up.


	19. 096 Ice

Title: Ice

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

Vladislaus watches as Gabriel breaks the icicle and pops it into his mouth, waiting for the inevitable. It happens a moment later and he laughs as Gabriel spits the ice across the tent, face contorting in a twitchy sort of half-pain.

"S'not funny." His words are slurred, his tongue staying far away from the injured side of his mouth.

"You should know better." Vladislaus shakes his head, laughing. "Eating ice when you've just lost a tooth."

"Lost. You make it sound as though I wasn't _attacked_."

"Always so dramatic, Gabriel. Here," he smiles, snaking close. "Let me kiss it better."


	20. 085 Diary

Title: Diary

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

Gabriel reports to Rome and returns, feeling as though he left something unfinished. While wandering the halls of the castle— deserted now as even the Dwergi have gone, he finds Dracula's study.

Vladislaus never kept a diary, but inside a desk drawer there are hundreds of letters— letters from past lovers, his father, reports of war on long dissolved borders. No diary, perhaps, but this at least shows the passing of time.

He shuffles through, and stops as one letter slips from the pack. It's dated, more than four hundred years old, but he recognizes the handwriting as his own.


	21. 087 Greatest Fear

Title: Greatest Fear

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

There was a time when Gabriel's greatest fear was weathering a thunderstorm alone. Then again, there was a time when he would have sided with Vladislaus against anyone without question. When he would have killed a man as soon as hear him slander his lover's name. When sins mattered less to him then what felt right and wrong.

When he loved Vladislaus more than anything.

There was a time when the most he wanted was to be left alone for a good hour in Vladislaus' company. There was a time when they were closer than brothers.

…once upon a time.


	22. 037 Anger

Title: Anger

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

"You are an idiot, Gabriel! A complete and total idiot!"

Gabriel watches a moment before raising a defense.

"You must admit, it turned out well in the end."

"You could have been _killed!_ You _should_ have been killed. What in hell were you thinking?"

Gabriel kills a smile in hope of keeping his head intact.

"I love you," he offers up instead, in hopes of placating the man a little.

It doesn't work. Vladislaus' frustration only reaches a point where there are no words in English left to describe how utterly terrified he'd been to see Gabriel leading that charge.


	23. 072 Perspective

Title: Perspective

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

Dracula thinks evil is all a matter of perspective. As is the nature of all things. In that seemingly endless expanse of time between his second death and his resurrection, he ruminated on it— on exactly what makes a man evil.

The church considers his Gabriel the left hand of God, and perhaps they are right. But others— the various governments he's angered, even Vladislaus himself, considers Gabriel a murderer.

No… that is a bit strong. Because even after all these years, he cannot bring himself to hate Gabriel. Not really. The church is his murderer. His lover is dead.


	24. 032 Water

Title: Water

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

A thick forest surrounded his father's palace, hiding any number of secrets. And yet it was the pond that fascinated him the most.

It wasn't much. Just the basin of a tiny stream that bubbled down from the mountains before delving back underground. But it was his, and so worth twice as much to him as anyone.

He took Gabriel there once and they made love together in the water without fear, for once, that some one would catch them together.

Vladislaus knows it's childish, but four hundred years later, he still goes there to remember… but mostly to forget.


	25. 001 Romance

Title: Romance

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

Gabriel was a romantic— Vladislaus was the realist.

Gabriel was an incurable optimist— Vladislaus the jaded pessimist.

Gabriel was open— Vladislaus secretive.

And yet both of them were lovers of life, passionate in everything be it politics or parties, love or war.

Then came the church, the figurative snake in the Garden of Eden. Gabriel changed. Vladislaus died.

Four hundred years later, they meet again. And it is Vladislaus who is open, a romantic, an incurable optimist— Gabriel who is jaded, secretive, the realist, the pessimist.

Funny how now, after four hundred years, neither has a life to speak of.


	26. 041 Summer Love

Title: Summer Love

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

The heat is unbearable so they stay close to the pond, sprawled nude under a large tree. For the time being, they've tired of swimming, content simply to dry out in the shade.

Gabriel smiles, eyes closed, arm pillowing his head. They stay there like that— Gabriel sprawled on his back, Vladislaus on his front— until the latter spies a small bug skittering across his lover's stomach and reaches over to flick it off.

There is a moment's pause before Vladislaus sits up on one elbow and leans close to draw patterns on Gabriel's stomach after a lingering, appreciative gaze.


	27. 016 Absurd

Title: Absurd

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

"You're mad."

Vladislaus smiles.

"It's quite possible. It's been nearly five-hundred years."

"But this is absolutely absurd!"

The vampire shrugs and offers him the rope again.

"Do you want to catch your devil or not?"

Gabriel crosses his arms, glaring.

"This is just some insane new fetish of yours, isn't it?"

"Actually, Van Helsing," a new voice, from the other side of the room, "It seems quite sound."

"Shut up, Carl."

Dracula is trying hard not to smirk.

"If it makes you feel any better," he whispers, leaning close. "I wouldn't be opposed if the tables were to turn tonight."


	28. 009 Anything

Title: Anything

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG-13

Words: 100

* * *

In hindsight, he realizes he really shouldn't have consented.

"Of course. Anything," was _begging_ for something horrible. But it was Vladislaus' birthday and as he was once again without money or an inkling of a gift, this was what happened.

Gabriel sighed and crossed his legs, waiting for Vladislaus to return and hoping to God _no one_ came in here. The door was unlocked— another one of Vladislaus' odd kinks— and the last thing he wanted was someone to wander in and find him tied to the bed, wearing a corset and a half dozen bite marks.

_Anything._ Bloody hell.


	29. 064 Need

Title: Need

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG-XD

Words: 100

* * *

Van Helsing needs this like he needs another hole in the head. He would know, having had the experience during the Singapore affair. (Incidentally, the shot wasn't meant for him, and no one's quite certain how he survived.) The point being, it is entirely unproductive monster hunting when one realizes the monster one's hunting is really one's ex-lover.

There are times when Gabriel's certain God hates him.

This is one of them.

"So you're saying that not only is he alive, but we've…"

Carl grins. He's enjoying this.

"You've slept together, yes."

Gabriel sighs and closes his eyes.

"Oh, _shit_."


	30. 065 Want

Title: Wants

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG-XD

Words: 100

* * *

What he _wants_ are answers, preferably while drunk. It's much easier to absorb world-shattering news drunk.

"How exactly did you manage this one?"

"Well, while we were in Transylvania, I took the liberty of looting the place."

"_What?_"

"Letters, Gabriel, letters," he scurries off to encourage boiling. "I was curious when he mentioned your history together."

"And these letters…?"

"They were sufficiently explicit, if that's what you're implying."

He's not sure whether to laugh or cry.

"You're certainly taking this rather well."

Carl blinks at him through huge goggles.

"You think you're the only one to have buggered a man?"


	31. 066 Take

Title: Take

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG-XD

Words: 100

* * *

"Well, I assume we're going back then, if he's resurrected. What are we taking?"

Carl shoots him a frustrated, _you've-forgotten-again_ glance.

"Nothing."

"And what do you expect me to kill him with? Kindness?"

"Amazing sex, actually," Carl says, completely straight-faced. "My research suggests he'll implode."

Van Helsing shakes his head and sits down.

"You have a horrible sense of humor, Carl."

Carl, for his part, sniggers.

"What makes you think I'm joking?"

Gabriel's look of utter shock is too much. Carl breaks down laughing and relieved, Gabriel sighs.

"You'll never let me live it down, will you?"

Carl grins.

"No."


	32. 067 Have

Title: Have

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG-XD

Words: 100

* * *

Dracula is circling them both, looking incredibly amused. Meanwhile, Gabriel grits his teeth, wondering how pissed the Cardinal would be if he were suddenly to strangle Carl.

"Where is your silver stake, Gabriel? Your crucifix? Your holy water?"

"I don't… have them, actually."

Dracula stops, cocking a single, perfect brow.

"You don't have them?" he repeats. "I cannot imagine the Vatican would send you here unarmed."

"He did, actually." Gabriel growls with a jerk over his shoulder.

Dracula laughs, turning to look at Carl.

"And why?"

"Van Helsing loves you!" Carl squeaks and flees.

"Well," Dracula stops, smiles. "That's interesting."


	33. 017 Forbidden

Title: Forbidden

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG-13

Words: 100

* * *

Not fair. Not fair. Not fair.

He has only two words left to him at this point, but seeing as how he is both recently dead and standing before the devil, this isn't really surprising… or even something that hasn't happened here before.

"Do you understand what I'm giving you?" Lucifer sees himself in the Valarious' eyes and it hurts.

"Immortality," comes the monotone response. "Like Gabriel... my Gabriel."

Lucifer sighs and closes his eyes, infinitely tired and strangely sick that this sort of thing keeps happening.

"The chance to take revenge against your murderer."

And slowly, Vladislaus— Dracula— smiles.


	34. 097 Sleep

Title: Sleep

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG-13

Words: 100

* * *

Van Helsing is not much of one for sleep. A notorious insomniac, he sleeps only when exhaustion takes him… or when Carl decides that not only is he exhausted, but he is exhausted _now_ and locks him in the first room with a bed.

Carl's not here, and he hasn't been sleeping. Vladislaus worries, insofar as he worries about anything, but does nothing. Like a child, he knows Gabriel will seek out sleep when he wants it and not before.

Which isn't to say that he doesn't attempt to help it along… a good five or so times a night.


	35. 030 Innocence

Title: Innocence

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG-13

Words: 100

* * *

Gabriel likes to watch Vladislaus sleep, delights in the pure, untainted innocence that sprawls over him. Until he mutters in his dreams and forgets to close his mouth properly, the sharp edge of a tooth peeking over his bottom lip. Then he seems more an imp of a kitten, kneading his claws into the leather of Gabriel's coat. 

Either way, it's sweet.

It's not that he's naïve. Gabriel knows he's a killer, knows the blood of millions soaks Vladislaus to the bone. And yet this man is still not entirely evil. He does what he can to survive. Like everyone.


	36. 021 Confidence

Title: Confidence

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG-13

Words: 100

* * *

Vladislaus embodies confidence. There is nothing in this world too far out of his reach. But when he hears the screams of his children, when he turns to face a lover he thought had died, that confidence wavers just a little.

Gabriel was the only man who'd ever lived to see him at his weakest. The only man who'd destroyed him. He knows what he's come for in that instant when their eyes meet, knows the lack of apology there is not cruelty but faulty memory.

_Not my Gabriel_.

And he's swooping down to meet his fate, come what may.


	37. 022 Happiness

Title: Happiness

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG-13

Words: 100

* * *

Odd that he should come to know happiness again after four hundred years. He has thought himself dead for so long— hollow— but a glance at Gabriel and it swallows him, every emotion flooding back.

In the end, it is worth it. A wrong word and Gabriel's riding back to Transylvania, desperate for answers now that he knows he's been lied to for so long. They've lost their murderer, their great assassin, their Left Hand of God— while Vladislaus regained his lover, his ally, his brother in arms.

In the end, this is what his happiness has always entailed.

Gabriel.


	38. 058 Passage

Title: Passage

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG-13

Words: 100

* * *

The passage of time is such a simple thing, and yet in the same instant means the world, it is useless.

Vladislaus muses this while lying on the ceiling. Why not, after all? It has been four hundred years. Can he not now, at long last, do as he likes?

Footsteps in the hall and he eases up to look just Gabriel slinks around the corner, scanning the room, that ever-faithful crossbow at his side. Vladislaus smiles, watching Gabriel creep past. The bolts, he knows, are useless. But had he been sitting up, his new coat would have been ruined.


	39. 048 Joy

Title: Joy

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG-13

Words: 100

* * *

It's well past midnight, the two of them curled together in defense against the cold.

"You forget though," Vladislaus whispers, toying with a strand of Gabriel's hair. "It's not about winning the hunt, it's about enjoying the chase."

"Bullshit," Gabriel snorts, turning slightly to look at him, face still flushed with after glow. "I didn't hear you complaining earlier."

Vladislaus only smiles and rolls over to better make a pillow of his chest.

"Yes, well," he murmurs, eyes shut and already falling into sleep. "I never said I didn't like to win, did I?"

Gabriel chuckles and follows him down.


	40. 047 Life

Title: Life

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG-13

Words: 100

* * *

Four hundred years. It drifts through his head at every opportunity, whispering like silk on heated flesh, reminding him of the life he had— of the lives he took. He hates it. Hates it with a passion he has only ever reserved for the church.

_Four hundred years._

It should not be possible to detest three words as intensely as he does. But then, he entire existence, his un-life, shouldn't be possible.

Vladislaus shakes it off. It doesn't matter, he tells himself, gazing down at Gabriel's sleeping form. Four hundred years, perhaps, but the one thing he wants has returned.


	41. 076 Mirth

Title: Mirth

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG-13

Words: 100

* * *

Gabriel likes to watch Vladislaus laugh. He loves the crinkling in the corners of his eyes and the way his nose wrinkles. He loves it even more when he's managed to cause it. Especially on those nights when the war is drawing closer, the men are freezing in their tents and the whole world seems like it's going to hell. Those times mean the most to him. Those times when he can creep up behind him and say something to startle him into laughing— to see, just for a moment, the world lift off his back. Those times are precious. 


	42. 098 Embrace

Title: Embrace

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG-13

Words: 100

* * *

Vladislaus' embraces feel like home to him. It's a stupid, overly romantic thing to say, but it's true. Gabriel worries sometimes, worries what would happen to them both if the church figured out where it is he's gone. As far as he knows he's their only monster hunter. But they've lied to him before.

Still, it ceases to matter so much when they're pressed close, a soft purr of pleasure running through his usually too-sore-to-touch back. It doesn't matter, because he _knows_ it's right. He can sense evil. This thing, whatever it is... This thing between them is not evil.


	43. 015 Pressure

Title: Pressure

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: Hard PG-13 (language)

Words: 100

* * *

He wants to _fuck_ him— wants to slam him against the wall and demand what's rightfully his. He craves it and the pressure is unbearable. It scares him. He knows he's been bitten, but goddamnit shouldn't cause _this_.

He doesn't remember enough to know that after four hundred years of separation, he should expect something like this. So it's a relief when the beast finally claws its way out, and he can channel that burning lust into something less damning. Never mind the all-encompassing guilt at having killed him.

_You're confused_, he tells himself, _you're grieving._

Yes. But who?


	44. 014 Frusteration

Title: Frustration

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

It kills him that he can't remember. He knows Rome holds no memories for him, but stays in the vain hope there will be a mission somewhere, _anywhere_ to force his life back in his head.

And now as he sits on a ratty bed in the heart of Rome, he knows he should have accepted Dracula's offer. Because there was something familiar in his eyes— a memory that never surfaced.

"Van Helsing?" Carl's voice outside the door. "We have to go back to Transylvania. He's not dead."

And that has to be the best news he's heard all week.


	45. 059 Lush

Title: Lush

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

In a day, in a single evening, Vladislaus can be a soldier, a lover, a politician, a dancer. When the mood strikes he's a king or a pauper, servant or priest. He'll be pious, if it's pretty, or pagan if the right person takes offence.

Gabriel watches this from the fringes of the ball, knowing that never in his life could he blend so seamlessly into this sort of lush extravagance. He _is_ a solider, a lover, a sinner, servant of God. He can't change this, can't shed his skin for a night to join Vladislaus in this mad masquerade.


	46. 027 Faith

Title: Faith

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

Vladislaus doesn't believe in praising liars and so has no faith in God. It is as simple as that. He will not bow to a tyrant the equal of any Greek god, for _they_ at least, believed in love.

He has no faith in God. But he has faith in Gabriel, which has an annoying tendency of making everything far too complicated. For Gabriel hasn't learned there is no such thing as _good beings_ and _evil beings_, rather good and bad actions. If he could only see properly…

Vladislaus shakes it off.

One never brings politics or religion to bed.


	47. 025 Growth

Title: Growth

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

Strange what four hundred years without memories can do to a person. Dracula had expected something like this though and so he simply stands there, humoring the hunter's unabashed stare.

For his part, Gabriel's fairly certain his brain has stopped working. Because the only thing he can think of is how Vladislaus has grown older, taller. The lines in his face disturb him, as does the added height. Suddenly, this is and isn't the boy he knew.

The guilt sets in then, a wave that crushes him to the ground, overwhelming in its insistence.

_I've killed you. Twice. I'm sorry._


	48. 040 Heat

Title: Heat

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

Winter in Romania is fierce. The cold drives even worst enemies together in search of warmth. So when they take to sleeping together in defense against the cold, no one much notices. It's in the summer, when the heat boils in that Gabriel beings to wonder if people notice. He should leave now for his own bed, but he can't quite bring himself to part with Vladislaus at night, even if the two of them together do make the bed a veritable hell.

But he can't leave. So they suffer, sticky limbs entwined through the summer, longing desperately for winter.


	49. 088 Warning

Title: Warning

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula & Carl!

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

He knows what he's about to do is probably considered a sin. But then, he's done a lot of things that could be considered a sin, and always with some sort of justification. This is no different. He's not aiding the devil, or betraying the church, or anything like that. He's simply saving Gabriel's lover from a horrible fate.

…problem being, Gabriel doesn't _know_ his lover's being saved from a horrible fate because Carl hasn't yet thought of a way to tell him that he should not, in fact, be killing Dracula a third time. Maybe he'll try a letter…


	50. 042 Patience

Title: Patience

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula & Carl!

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

It's touching how much trust the little friar puts in him. He's a killer, a creature of the night and son of the Devil. Strange how Carl only sees a lover. He's grateful for it though. Enough to be patient and let the friar handle things. After all, it's been four hundred years since he knew Gabriel and the man has changed a good deal.

He suspects Carl does not know him half so well as he thinks, but however much he knows is twice what he could ever offer. Except the apples— Gabriel's one weakness. That much hasn't changed.


	51. 095 Picture

Title: Picture

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

Gabriel stares at the picture of the count thinking, _I know you. I'm sure I know you_. There is a flicker of memory— a long past battle littered with bodies, his attention focused on a single man, unconscious and bleeding in the field. The sheer emotion in that single instant silences him. Who was this man that the sight of his injuries caused such grief?

But then the screen flickers past, the memory fading as quickly as it came. And Gabriel realizes with a sinking feeling that whoever this man is, whatever their past together, now he's going to die.


	52. 086 Voice

Title: Voice

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG-13

Words: 100

* * *

There are a hundred different things he loves about Vladislaus, but nothing so much as that silk on silver voice. He craves it as he craves nothing else— understanding almost in his passion for it Vladislaus' obsession with chocolate. He thinks they must be the same. For where his lover revels in his sweets, Gabriel delights in the sound of his voice, be it commanding his army, arguing, singing… breaking.

It's the latter he takes pride in. Because he's the only man that can arouse Vladislaus to the point where perfect silver melts and drips away to reveal roughened steel.


	53. 077 Almost

Title: Almost

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

When he dreams, he dreams of battles and passions long passed. He remembers everything in dreams. That's what infuriates him the most. Because in that single, foggy instant between waking and sleeping, he almost grasps his memories—almost sees all that made him the man he is today.

It's madding to know that as soon as he reaches out, as soon as he can almost make out the images through the fog, they've disappeared. And, as always, he's left lying in a strange bed, with Carl knocking at the door, the haunting image of too-familiar eyes dancing through his head.


	54. 029 Day

Title: Day

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

It was Vladislaus' idea to steal the pastries. Mostly because he knows if Gabriel is with him, no one will beat him for the theft. Everyone loves Gabriel as much as they fear him. Because everyone's heard the stories of the fallen angel Vladislaus brought back from the hunt, near death in a pile of bloody feathers, two giant bleeding gashes where the wings were torn from his back.

…Vladislaus may have exaggerated a little.

But only because he _knows_ Gabriel's an angel. And because Gabriel will always protect him. Which makes stealing pastries from the kitchen that much easier.


	55. 028 Night

Title: Night

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

Gabriel smiles at him as they eat their supposedly ill-begotten goods. It awes him to think of the sheer level of trust Vladislaus puts in him. Which is mad, when he thinks about it. Because he has no idea where he comes from, who his family is, or even who gave him the scars on his back. Vladislaus tells him stories, but they're always different and he's long since learned to take the boy's tales worth a grain of salt. Vladis doesn't notice much, after all, or else he would have seen Gabriel as he asked the cook for treats. 


	56. 049 Freedom

Title: Freedom

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

He knows he's not free. The church keeps him on a short leash— their personal monster hunter, a lap dog with sharp teeth. He hates it, but he tolerates it because he has no memory of anything else. And because, as always, they promise him his past.

_You may find what you've been seeking here._

This last time, at least, they were finally right. He had history in Transylvania. Problem being he had to kill history before history had a chance to let four thousand tiny vampires loose on the world. And as the cardinal always says, _work before pleasure._


	57. 081 Heartache

Title: Heartache

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

He's lying when he says he feels nothing. He feels _everything_ in perfect, shining clarity. And that's the problem. Because every single emotion— every sliver of hate, every beam of happiness, every scrap of lust, every fragment of love, every joy, every hope, every jealousy— crush him with their weight until finally, _finally_ he goes numb.

Vladislaus— Dracula now— stares at the world through dead eyes, knowing these things hurt, but feeling ten thousand miles away. His thoughts reside in Rome, in London, in France. Without realizing, he follows Gabriel in his mind's eye. And that hurts worse than anything.


	58. 005 Discovery

Title: Discovery

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG-13

Words: 100

* * *

There are times Dracula wants only to forget, and times he wants only to be alone with his memories. The most dear, old and worn with handling, is the first he and Gabriel ever had sex. Because the moment every scrap of clothing had hit the ground, Gabriel was entranced with a million tiny discoveries. That night he mapped every tiny wrinkle, every blemish, every freckle— cataloguing as he went every spot that made the smaller man squirm. He'd never been worshipped like that before, and he never has since. But he keeps that one memory— his glimmer of perfection. 


	59. 008 Resolutions

Title: Resolutions

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG-13

Words: 100

* * *

His third death has left him bitter, his optimism tarnished. He had been content, until now, to simply _exist_ in his little prison. But if these people, this ugly, festering religion wanted a war, he'd give them one. Stupid, ignorant pigs, every one of them. Only Gabriel had ever been capable of driving him to such utter madness.

Gabriel… sweet, innocent Gabriel. He did as he was told hoping to find peace in his past. Dracula can give him peace, save him from the blood bath Rome is soon to become.

He smiles, optimism returning. A new age has begun.


	60. 084 Makeup

Title: Make-up

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

A/N: Slight continuation to _043. Opportunity_.

* * *

His joy at the sight of _his_ Gabriel sleeping in that crumbling inn had been intense. But it's nothing compared to the sheer emotion he harbors now, as he watches Gabriel sleep in _his_ bed.

_Where he belongs_, he thinks, wondering how long until the hunter wakes.

Sad irony, perhaps, that the only man he ever trusted should turn against him and into a creature so opposite as to bear no resemblance to him at all.

But then Gabriel's waking, stretching like a cat with that seductive little twist of the lips.

"Well, I can't say I hadn't expected this."


	61. 018 Honesty

Title: Honesty

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

Vladislaus laughs, beyond pleased.

"You seem to be taking your capture rather well."

Gabriel sits up, watching him cross the room.

"As far as monsters go, you're not the worst."

"Should I try harder?" He smiles. "As the son of the devil, I feel some obligation to reek havoc."

Gabriel shrugs, arms propped on his knees.

"You knew I would come, didn't you?" Vladislaus turns, smile gone. "You planned it."

"Of course." Van Helsing laughs, leaning back. "I had questions."

"You _trusted_ me?" And there is true surprise there.

Gabriel flushes, looks away.

"You never gave me reason not to."


	62. 079 Surprise

Title: Surprise

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

Gabriel wakes with a heartbeat under his ear and freezes. He's lying on the chest of a smaller man… dressed in black, a few errant tendrils of ebony hair catching at his own. Somehow he almost _remembers_ this. Van Helsing scans the room, knowing his weapons have been moved out of arm's reach, not knowing if the vampire under him is sleeping at all.

"Hush, Gabriel." His voice is rough. He had been sleeping, then.

"You have a heartbeat."

"I fed. Did it wake you?"

No, he realizes. It was this strange, sweet sense of peace.

And Gabriel is terrified.


	63. 054 Emergence

Title: Emergence

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

With the emergence of a new satanic cult in France, Van Helsing is suddenly too busy to concern himself with the faltering memories of his past. He knows there's only one man who could have told him what it is he needs to know, and he killed that man himself.

Or thinks he did, at least, until he sees that telltale shadow in the sky.

He's seen harpies, and he's seen vampires. And there has never been a one of them that could ever match Dracula for size. Smiling, he finishes what he came to do.

The hunt is on.


	64. 099 Emergency

Title: Emergency

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

It is the smell of fresh blood that catches his attention and sends him wheeling down from the skies. It is not the first time he has scented a murder, but this blood smells different. It is not that of a mortal man.

He nearly crashes when he sees him.

Gabriel. _His_ Gabriel.

His rage is instant and damning. Thirty cultists— perhaps even his attacker— die in an arching bloodbath.

He creeps close to Gabriel then, not wanting to startle him as he gathers him, bleeding, into his arms like a child (like an angel) and sets off for home.


	65. 046 Healing

Title: Healing

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

Strangely enough, Gabriel doesn't fight him, though he is awake as Vladislaus patches his wounds. It worries him that so fearsome a hunter is suddenly content to watch through lidded eyes as he is stitched back together. Maybe it is the sense of evil he has; maybe in his attempt to help Vladislaus has lost some of his tarnish. Maybe Gabriel has remembered him, or else simply lost his strength to fight. Maybe he's biding his time.

But Vladislaus doubts it. He thinks— fears— that something important has… come loose, and that dear Gabriel will never been the same again.


	66. 038 Dirt

Title: Dirt

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

Van Helsing's dirt is nearly as much a part of him as Dracula's leather. Not that he doesn't wear his fair share of leather, mind, but it is often easier to find him without leather than dirt.

Vladislaus despises filth.

And so Gabriel finds himself _accidentally_ pushed into the river by a wing. (It caught in the wind) And when riding, his horse just _happens_ to spook in time to throw him into a pond. ("I only glanced back, Gabriel.")

And when Vladislaus somehow trips over his own feet, they just _happen_ to land together in a conveniently placed tub.


	67. 068 Mine

Title: Mine

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

Gabriel belongs to _him_. There is no question to it, no claim of good and evil, right and wrong. Because four hundred years ago, Gabriel made a promise, and damned if Vladislaus won't hold him to it.

But he'll be gentle. He _knows_ Gabriel's forgotten everything, knows that the church was poisoning his mind with lies even when he was still alive. He knows that it's going to take some doing to untangle the mess of things the church has left him with.

But it's worth it. After all, Gabriel is not the only one to have made a promise.


	68. 031 Music

Title: Music

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

Six hundred years and he's a celebrity— an eccentric rock star never seen in the day. Which is a lie, of course. After six hundred years he goes where he likes.

Still, never thought he would see Gabriel again. Immortal, yes. But _stupid_. Last time they'd met, he'd been fighting a goblin_ king_. But then, this _is_ Gabriel. And he will always, _always_, show up when least expected.

So really it's no surprise to see him backstage, chewing a battered toothpick.

"I just quit smoking," he says, by way of explanation.

Vladis laughs and lights up.

"Like it'll kill you."


	69. 012 Self Love

Title: Self-Love

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: (hard) PG-13

Words: 100

* * *

How often has he touched himself with those eyes in the forefront of his mind, not knowing whom they belong to? How often has he dreamed of long forgotten nights of passion, only to wake up shifting and uncomfortable, sweat plastering his hair to his skin? How often has he loved someone so fiercely in his dreams it grieves him to wake alone?

How often has he despaired at ever finding peace again?

How often has he entreated Morpheus, "Send the nightmares if you want, but for God's sake, _keep_ _the rest._"

How often has he watched his lover die?


	70. 036 Whew

Title: Whew

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

Vladislaus lives for the battle, the rush of adrenaline as legions of war cries fill the air. He loves the rush of the fight, the pulsing of blood, and of fear. He longs for the charge, the ambush, the kill, but when he sees Gabriel leading three hundred men against two thousand, his heart _stops_.

The fierce joy of the fight leaves him in a rush, and he stands amidst the dead bereft and shaking. In that instant he sees Gabriel's face painted with a terrible, angelic rage and he is terrified. As is their opposition, apparently.

The enemy retreats.


	71. 082 Ghosts

Title: Ghosts

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

Van Helsing always thought when his memory finally returned, he'd be left pondering a hundred thousand battles, dead monsters and the ghosts of his family. He expected the dam to break, and the flood of memories to drown him.

He was wrong. Only one memory ever trickled over the blockade in his head.

And he remembers shouting at Vladislaus, threatening to throw him out the window and into the lake. He remembers Vladislaus' laughter, and his reply.

"It's only crumbs, Gabriel."

He remembers glowering, arms crossed.

"I _hate_ it when you eat in bed."

It's simple. But it breaks him.


	72. 073 Capering

Title: Capering

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

Vladislaus is wild. He does as he pleases the instant the mood hits, be it breaking the mad horse they found wandering the forest, stealing all manner of food from the kitchen or attempting to seduce an angel.

Gabriel is tame, obedient. He does as the elder Valerious asks without question even going so far as to attempt to reign in the man's son. He is the child Vladislaus' father wanted— quick, clever, strong and _loyal_.

For this, Vladislaus is jealous. But it doesn't matter. Because he's set his mind on the one thing his father cannot have.

Gabriel's heart.


	73. 011 Intimacy

Title: Intimacy

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

There is such intimacy in sharing a man's death— in bearing witness to the soul's flight as it escapes its mortal coil. Dracula delights in this, loves stealing these precious moments, savoring them where his brides can only rip and shred, gluttons when they feed, a perfect mirror of sin.

He thinks Gabriel will understand him, as he understood everything once. It won't take much to change him, not now that he's crossed over into Transylvania. A promise of memories, a whisper of shared past, and Gabriel should topple into his arms.

Should.

But then, Gabriel always was so unpredictable.


	74. 094 Sanctuary

Title: Sanctuary

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

He should feel safe in the arms of the church. Should feel as though he is protected. But he can only feel as though he's being watched. An attack is coming— a sort of pressure in the air that crushes him until he cannot bear to sleep between these walls.

Soon, the feeling follows him. The eyes of the church are everywhere. They will destroy him when his usefulness has been served up. Carl worries, but Carl is safe and cannot understand.

Gabriel does the only thing that makes sense— he flees to Transylvania and there, sleeps like the dead.


	75. 045 Passion

Title: Passion

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

He remembers resisting for so long, but Vladislaus was passionate in his pursuit, as he is passionate in everything. In the end, it was that passion that drew him in like a moth to the flame.

Gabriel stopped resisting and dared for a moment to love. Another moment followed, then a hundred, until suddenly an eternity stretched before them. Gabriel panicked. The church offered escape.

He took it.

Four hundred years later it grieves him to think that thousands died because of Dracula— a creature that came to exist only because he couldn't trust his lover.

Because he'd been afraid.


	76. 055 Transmogrify

Title: Transmogrify

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

Van Helsing _hates_ shape shifters. He loathes and despises them with a passion. There is nothing more irritating than aiming at a person who can, at a moment's notice, grow wings and _shrink_. (He wasted so many bullets that eventually he just strangled the damn thing.)

But when he finds himself fighting a giant… _something_ (Carl's definition of it was hazy at best) capable of running _through_ walls, he is impossibly grateful to see that familiar shadow cloaking the ground.

Behind him, the creature crashes to the ground and he turns, chest heaving.

Dracula licks his lips, smiling.

"Hello, Gabriel."


	77. 057 Surreal

Title: Surreal

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

It's surreal looking at this landscape after four hundred years. He almost remembers it, almost sees figures running through the grass— a dog, a long limbed boy. He stops and Carl frowns.

"Are you alright?"

…straight ebony hair that always tickled his nose.

Gabriel shakes it off.

"Fine, Carl." A pause. "I feel as though I know this place."

"Well, it's possible, I suppose," he says, as they move towards the gate.

The memories crash into him and suddenly he remembers too much.

"Van Helsing?" Carl's voice, worried.

A cloaked figure steps from the shadows of the arch, smiling.

"_Gabriel_."


	78. 069 Yours

Title: Yours

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

It is summer before the full impact sets in. Whoever he was in life, in death, Dracula was the only person who knew _anything_ of his past. And now he is dead.

Again.

This is becoming a disturbing trend with him. Next he'll string Carl up somewhere to 'keep him safe'.

Disgusted, Gabriel walks alone. They are outside Transylvania. He came for answers, but can't bring himself to look.

"Gabriel." So achingly familiar.

Van Helsing spins, dares to hope. From his spot against a tree, Dracula smiles.

"I believe I've found something of yours."

A ring. His ring. _Their_ ring.


	79. 075 Sympathy

Title: Sympathy

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

"You really can't expect me to sympathize with you, you know."

They're curled around each other, Gabriel's leg riding high on Dracula's thigh.

"Even _you_ have to admit, the whole system's gone to hell."

Dracula laughs, cradling him closer with a wing.

"If only. It'd make my life much easier."

"Un-life."

He shrugs.

"Same difference." A pause. "Actually, I rather enjoy it."

"Enjoy what? The blatant corruption? You would."

"Of course. It brought you home."

And Gabriel can't really argue with that. So instead, he closes his eyes and basks in the feeling of Dracula's fingers dancing over his scars.


	80. 078 Always

Title: Always

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

Vladislaus always keeps his promises. No way in hell is he going to break his word simply because the church holds his Gabriel's chain. They should know better than to expect it of him. After all, four hundred years without his lover is purgatory enough. He's finished with their petty tortures and he wants Gabriel _back_, thanks very much.

He waits a little longer, and Gabriel doesn't return. They know he's resurrected, but they're frightened, sending lesser monster hunters with all of Gabriel's brave idiocy and none of his skill.

No matter. He can just as easily go to Rome.


	81. 092 Success

Title: Success

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

He didn't _really_ expect Gabriel to return to him a second time. But when he sees the man storming towards his home, absolutely furious, his interest peaks.

"Van Helsing, this is foolish. You can't just _leave_ the church!"

"I can and I am, Carl."

"But why come _here_?"

"He can help."

"Count _Dracula_ can _help_? He made a deal with the devil, Van Helsing. I don't think he's _quite_ capable of random kindness."

This is too perfect to pass up. He moves— faster than they can see— to walk at Gabriel's side.

"Actually, that would depend on what you need."


	82. 093 Glimpse

Title: Glimpse

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

Carl figures it out that Anna's home is not actually the old Valerious castle (Something about the architecture. Van Helsing was sharpening his knives.) and a day later and he's discovered the location of the ruins. By week's end they're off to Transylvania.

_I lived here_, Gabriel realizes, staring at the remains of a tapestry. _I know this place._

But the glimpse is gone the moment it came and he's left with a pile of rubble and Carl's chatter droning on in the background.

_Follow me,_ he hears and turns, staring off into the forest.

"Carl? Let's go this way."


	83. 026 Sensuality

Title: Sensuality

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

"I was wondering when you'd come home, Gabriel." Vladislaus slips off the rocks he's been sitting on.

"Oh my." Carl staggers back upon seeing him, not _quite_ panicked as Van Helsing's there. "How are you even here? It's full sun."

"Good point." Gabriel mutters and takes a step back. It's not the first time he's dealt with shape shifters.

Dracula only laughs, oozing sensuality.

"It's me, Gabriel. Do you honestly think the day could imprison me forever?" He pouts, ever so slightly. "Your lack of faith is crushing."

Slowly, Gabriel relaxes, lowering his weapon.

_Neutral ground._

"I want to remember."


	84. 080 Warmth

Title: Warmth

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

Gabriel knows he's wounded but can't feel it. Something in the nature of the wound perhaps that keeps him numb. He thinks his back might be broken. It'd make sense. He _should_ be dead after having been thrown from a building. Shouldn't be cradled in Dracula's arms, his head resting in the corner where his neck meets shoulder as he flies on.

Gabriel doesn't feel much— only a subtle, pulsing warmth. He hears a heartbeat— maybe his own— and a rough voice in his ear begging him not to close his eyes.

And he thinks, for a moment, he remembers.


	85. 070 Lubricious

Title: Lubricious

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

Desire is not alien between them. Gabriel knows it well. He can tell from a glance what will happen the moment they can settle safely in their room. Vladislaus' eyes betray him. 

Too dark and he's taken offence at something someone said about his Gabriel. Or else he's jealous. He'll be explored and conquered tonight— slowly.

Too light and he's mischievous. There'll be trickery involved— blindfolds, ropes. Chocolate, more often than not.

It's when his eyes flash that's the danger— it's always hard and fast then, too desperate to pause, awake until dawn. No rest for the wicked.

Gabriel smiles.


	86. 071 Lugubrious

Title: Lugubrious

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

When Gabriel's happy, he sulks. It seems to be a fact of life, really. Because when Gabriel's happy he's everywhere at once. When he laughs— everyone laughs. People trip over themselves for him— for a smile, a laugh, one of those one-armed hugs and a, "_Do you know what I like about you?"_

He's only really happy when Gabriel's not, and that kills him. But Gabriel only needs him when he's upset, only seeks out his company when something's gone wrong with the world. He's an angel. Untouchable. Vladislaus knows he can't keep him. But damned if he won't try.


	87. 004 Regret

Title: Regret

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

Gabriel regrets without knowing why and it bothers him. He knows he did something horrible to someone he loved, but can't remember what. He suspects this is the reason some how for his memory loss. This all-encompassing guilt he feels would be unbearable he knew the reason for it.

There's always someone dying in the back of his mind. Sometimes, if he forgets to block it out, he can hear screaming. He knows these are wounded soldiers he's forgotten the names of. These, he welcomes. Because there is one voice he fears, thick with blood and betrayal.

"Why, Gabriel? _Why?_"


	88. 003 Forgiveness

Title: Forgiveness

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

There's no question of forgiveness. Vladislaus never blamed his Gabriel— he knew from the start there was more behind his actions that what he could see. It was not hatred that drove him to plunge that dagger through his ribs, but fear and jealousy.

Had he not trusted Gabriel so much…

But it is the church— his murderer— he declares war against. They've damned him to a life beyond all possible existence and he hates them for it. He should not have to kill to survive. He should be able to live and love… like anyone else.

He wants Gabriel.


	89. 019 Grace

Title: Grace

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

Even in his most rebellious times, Vladislaus always carries with him the grace that comes with higher breeding. He is elegant, intelligent, poised— like a Siamese cat among strays. Gabriel hates it. Around Vladislaus he feels like a bumbling puppy, tripping over his own feet, falling into important things and ruining them without ever realizing he's done anything wrong. He wishes that just once he could match that perfect, unfaltering grace— that just once Vladislaus would stagger and he'd be the one to right him.

Four hundred years later, he's finally become what it was he wanted so badly.

Ice.


	90. 023 Sexy

Title: Sexy

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG-13

Words: 100

* * *

The wings do something to Gabriel he can't really explain, and true to character, Vladislaus exploits it. He doesn't have to change to fly— not entirely, anyway. And so there are some times (love, need, passion, depression) when the wings unfurl without prompting, entirely alone.

It was in one of those times he caught Gabriel staring with that look in his eyes that _begged_ to be allowed to touch and explore.

The resulting sex was far beyond anything they'd ever had before. So now, when he's feeling particularly devilish, Vladislaus stretches his wings and carelessly 'forgets' to put them away.


	91. 033 Love

Title: Love

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG-13

Words: 100

* * *

There was one thing they hadn't counted on when they forced Gabriel into murdering his lover— the fact they were truly in love.

At the time, the cardinal had supposed it was a passing lust (no doubt the influence of the devil.) and that once gone, the Valerious' sway over Gabriel would simply cease to exist.

If anything, his death only made things worse.

Suddenly, Gabriel was angry, reckless, utterly uncontrollable.

_"If you can't find a monster to kill me,"_ he'd spit in the confessionals,_ "I'll do it myself."_

They had no choice, you see, but to make him forget.


	92. 034 Ambiguity

Title: Ambiguity

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG-13

Words: 100

* * *

He should have been wary of the church's ambiguity— should have suspected that _they'd_ done something to make him forget. The few memories he has, in their entirety, could drive a man to madness. Now that he thinks about it, he understands their reasoning. But he hates them for it. Hates them all the more because they _lied_ instead of telling him that yes, his memories are missing and yes, it's for his own good, because had they not he would have impaled himself as soon as vanquish evil.

If they'd only have trusted him.

If only he'd trusted Vladis…


	93. 035 Act

Title: Act

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

Vladislaus can be a wonderful actor when it pleases him. And Gabriel is grateful for it as he is currently distracting a large and murderous beastie. A beastie which has recently consumed three shopkeepers, two servant girls, six children, five cows, two chickens and a stray (possibly rabid) skunk.

It would figure that said large and murderous beastie has only one weak point that cannot possible be reached from anywhere save directly (approximately three inches) behind him. Needless to say, by the time the beastie's been vanquished, Gabriel _reeks_.

And Vladislaus, because he's a complete and total _ass_, only laughs.


	94. 050 Bliss

Title: Bliss

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

Gabriel's never been bitten before. Frankly, he's never gotten close enough to. Had he, he would have found himself strangely addicted to the sensation. Because as he lays in Vladislaus' arms, lightheaded and missing a good deal of blood, he feels strangely comfortable. He remembers, and it doesn't bother him, because everything's alright now, and the punctures on his neck feel sinfully good, and he can't really be bothered with things like guilt and bad blood and speaking of blood, could Dracula possibly take a little more?

Gabriel sighs as that clever tongue flicks over his neck.

Perfection. Absolute bliss.


	95. 051 Dreams

Title: Dreams

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

In sleep, he remembers. Remembers ancient battles and the feel of his lover's hands. Remembers the old cardinal's enormous ears and the way Vladislaus' nose wrinkled when he laughs. Remembers the man who spoke of betrayal and the pained look in his lover's eyes when he saw him so upset.

He remembers the way the knife slipped in without his meaning it to. (He'd only meant it as a threat— to keep him away. But Vladislaus had been so intent on him, had _trusted_ him, and so had not thought to find the knife.)

In his dreams, Gabriel remembers death.


	96. 056 Magnetic

Title: Magnetic

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

Gabriel had a magnetic personality, once upon a time. People adored him. Vladislaus adored him. And so he couldn't help his jealousy when one of his brothers stole Gabriel away. Or when some mere _servant_ commanded his attention for more than a few moments at a time.

He knew it was petty, utterly stupid. But he also recognized the coveting _lust_ in his brothers' eyes. He despised it that the two _cowards_ should steal Gabriel's attention away when they had been too utterly frightened to help the man unconscious and bleeding in the road. It wasn't fair. Vladislaus _loved_ him.


	97. 074 Empathy

Title: Empathy

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

His own back aches when he glances at the spot where Gabriel's wings should be. He can't help it. It's always bothered him to see those scars. Sometimes, if he looks long enough, his own wings will creep out in a strange sort of empathy. He has to turn away then— to fly, or at the very least transform just to shake the ache out of his shoulder blades.

Gabriel laughs at him then and grabs a wing— just at the base where the sensation is enough to stop him in his tracks— pulling him backwards into his lap.

Perfection.


	98. 089 Everything

Title: Everything

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

He remembers everything. It plays out behind his eyes as though happening for the first time. He sees the expression in Gabriel's eyes— the glint of the blade he never actually saw— the grief, the guilt, that furious, seething anger. He sees everything and it's not enough.

He wants to change it. Or at the very least, to fix it now. But he can't. Because Gabriel's forgotten. And suddenly, what Gabriel's forgotten doesn't really exist.

And he's never felt more alone.

So he offers him a deal he knows Gabriel won't take, and prepares for the battle at hand.


	99. 090 Nothing

Title: Nothing

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

He remembers nothing. Memories slip away like sand between his fingers. But as he stands here looking at this creature, he can see the man he was. In his mind's eye lines fade, his hair shortens and a peppering of freckles dot his nose. This has never happened before, but he understands what it means.

This man, whoever he is, whoever he _was_— he's telling the truth now. And it kills Gabriel to know that he cannot extend an alliance, however tenuous. The church has sent him to do a job and that job must be done, memories be damned.


	100. 100 Firefly

Title: Firefly

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Gabriel/Dracula

Rating: PG

Words: 100

* * *

Even now, he likes to watch the fireflies. Strangely enough, they remind him of mortality and of an old life fading off into memory. 

They remind him of Gabriel.

His life was constantly cast in darkness— a never-ending struggle against authority, the church, and later even his own people. But Gabriel was always his little light in the darkness. Flashing just bright enough to keep him moving forward, before disappearing into the night.

He knows he shouldn't have trusted Gabriel. He knows he should have expected the inevitable betrayal. But he didn't. And strangely, it really doesn't bother him anymore.

* * *

END 


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